


Overdue and Just in Time

by Inkpot



Series: Another Thread: Unbroken Bonds [3]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Gadget needs a hug, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulative Relationship, Other, Pre-Forces, Protective Silver the Hedgehog, Silver gives him a hug, along with lots of hugs, because I have to make up for hurting the sunshine wolf somehow, explanations will be in the second chapter, not sure if infinite and gadget counts as a relationship at this point but being safe, semiverbal Gadget the Wolf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-25 15:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20914292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkpot/pseuds/Inkpot
Summary: An encounter between Gadget and Infinite leads to Silver revealing a few more details about their connection. Bonus, Gadget gets a break for once.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This may make more sense if you've read the first two works of this series, but can absolutely be read without.

Silver peered around the corner, scanning the area before signaling Knuckles and darting forward. They dashed to the next corner and repeated the process. So far there had been no sign of Infinite, visual or otherwise. The city was almost eerily quiet for having had a reported sighting not that long ago. That alone was enough to put both heroes on edge.

Silver’s ear twitched. He stopped halfway down the street and spun to face an entirely different direction. Knuckles skidded to a stop beside him and frowned. “Problem?”

“Maybe. Checking.” He lifted off the ground, keeping his powers dimmed their lowest as he zipped toward whatever caught his attention. He flashed around a corner, poised to attack, and immediately dropped the stance. “Shoot, sorry, didn’t mean to – are you okay?”

Knuckles ran up and found himself looking at a red wolf curled into a tiny ball in a corner between a jutting chimney column and the main wall. Gadget had his hands clasped over his nose and mouth, tears pricking the edges of his massively widened eyes and pupils shrunk to tiny dots. His breathing was silenced by his gloves, but the quick rise and fall of his chest made it obvious he was on the verge of panic.

“What’s going on?” he asked, going for matter of fact over comfort. Silver would do better handling a spooked kid but they still needed to assess threats before something snuck up on them.

“I don’t know,” Silver said, his voice soft. He knelt down in front of Gadget with slow, deliberate movements, not forcing eye contact but neither looking away. “Hey. Can you hear me?”

A shudder ran through Gadget’s frame. He removed his hands from his mouth, mouth moving soundlessly but clear enough to make out what he was trying to say. _Run_.

Silver glanced back at Knuckles, concern for Gadget now mixed with a touch of apprehension. Before he could speak, a different voice rang out through the city, clear as if it was called from just across the street.

“Ready or not, here I come!”

Gadget whimpered and managed to curl even tighter. At the same time, he jerked his head in a rough shake and pointed away, pleading them with his gaze.

Silver’s eyes filled with steel. “We’re not leaving,” he said, firm but somehow still gentle. “Not until you’re safe.”

A flash of light and sound interrupted whatever response Gadget was going to make. The next instant Gadget was gone.

Silver whipped around, Knuckles following a fraction of a second behind as the voice from before returned. “Found you. That’s two for me.”

Infinite hovered just above the ground, holding Gadget in a tight grip across his arms. The wolf thrashed briefly before a swift kick back managed to make contact with Infinite’s shin, startling the jackal just enough to loosen his hold.

Gadget was out of Infinite’s grip and standing next to Knuckles faster than should have been physically possible. He stood, his breathing still more than shaky but some of the terror from before shunted aside by determination.

Infinite recovered from his momentary shock and growled. His mask didn’t even twitch toward the others; he only had eyes for Gadget. “Why do you have to be so stubborn?” he huffed, crossing his arms. “All I want is to protect you.”

Gadget’s only response was to raise his fists to his chest.

“Well, if you aren’t willing to be reasonable…” Infinite raised a hand crackling with red energy and poised to snap. “I’ll just have to work w- gah!” He dropped a foot, clutching his hand to his chest.

Silver glared, hand still outstretched and glowing faintly blue. “Leave him alone or you’ll have us to deal with.”

Infinite growled as he recovered, his glare turning to pin Silver. “Stay out of this, vermin. This is between the two of us.”

Gadget dove at Silver, barely getting him out of the way before the ground exploded where he’d been standing. He gave Silver a pointed look before darting over to Knuckles and glaring one last time at Infinite, this one more directed somehow.

Infinite let out a piercing howl as he dropped to his knees. At the same time Gadget hissed and squeezed his eyes shut in clear pain. He forced them open to grab Knuckles and shoot his grappling hook to drag both of them away, Silver flying close behind.

They landed a few blocks away. Gadget managed to set Knuckles on his feet before halfway collapsing, only stopped by Silver sticking an arm out for him to steady himself. After a moment he slowly lowered himself to sit on the ground.

Silver waited for him to stabilize before speaking. “You did some mental thing to throw him off, didn’t you?”

Gadget nodded.

“That’ll hurt you too though.”

A short delay, then another nod, slower.

“I’m sorry,” Knuckles cut in, “but what in Chaos’ name is going on here? What was Infinite talking about, protecting you? Why’s he chasing you at all?”

“Knuckles-”

“No. I’m not taking ‘it’s his business’ as an answer this time. His business almost got him kidnapped by Infinite and I refuse to lose anyone else!”

Silver went silent for a long moment as he processed that. He’d realized that Knuckles worried about Gadget, all of them did, but maybe he’d underestimated how much.

“He’s right.”

They both looked down at Gadget, once again curled into a ball. This time, though, he looked more pained, and tired beneath that. He met Silver’s gaze with weary resolution. “He’s seen plenty anyway.”

Silver took a breath and nodded. “Okay. But we need to get you somewhere safe first. Knuckles, can you keep up?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

“No, but it doesn’t hurt.” He paused. “Gadget, is touch okay?”

Gadget tilted his head, thinking, then nodded. “Only deep.”

“That I can do.” He reached down and scooped the startled wolf into his arms, making sure to keep his hold firm. “Hang on tight and tell me if we’re within five miles of your limit.”

Gadget hooked an arm around Silver’s neck and nodded. Knuckles frowned, but didn’t speak. Doubtless filing another question away for later.

Silver took off at an angle from where they’d last seen Infinite, praying they could find Gadget somewhere safe to recover. At least he’d be safe with them until they finished explaining things.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I forgot that I needed a work establishing Gadget and Silver's relationship. Oops. Oh well, have some hugs and explanations.

They ended up sheltering in a hotel lobby, selected for the corner couches scattered around the open space. That, and the airy sunlit space had plenty of potential exits.

Silver was about to set Gadget back on his feet when he realized his shoulder was damp. He bit back a curse and dropped onto one of the couches instead, wrapping one arm around Gadget’s back and cradling his head with the other.

“Hey, it’s okay, we got you,” Silver murmured softly, gently petting across his tousled bangs. Gadget made a soft sound and buried his head in Silver’s chest fur. His shoulders shook, but he didn’t make a sound as he cried.

Silver looked over at Knuckles, currently occupied by awkwardly pretending to inspect a painting of fruit on the wall. “You might as well sit down,” he said, keeping his voice low. “We’re gonna be here for a while.”

Knuckles glanced at him, eyes trailing down to Gadget. He heaved a silent sigh and settled on one of the cushions. “Alright. Do you need a minute or-?”

“It’s fine.” If Silver’s guess was correct, Gadget didn’t need his attention as much as his presence. And he hadn’t been wrong so far, so he’d keep following his intuition.

Silver took a deep breath, giving Gadget a light scratch behind his ears before beginning to speak. “To start with, Gadget has a soul bond with Infinite.” He shot Knuckles a quelling look before the echidna could react. “The exact reasons behind this are _not important_. What matters is its effects.”

“Gadget can constantly sense where Infinite is, and as far as he can tell they both have some insight into each other’s feelings when in close proximity. And when they get too far apart, it hurts them both. Badly. Gadget can force that back for a while, but even that’s limited, and it makes the effects worse if he doesn’t make it back in range fast enough.”

Knuckles was frowning, but it was a thoughtful frown rather than an angry one. “I guess that explains some stuff. Like why he was chasing you, if you’re limiting his range. But not how weird he was about the whole thing.”

Silver was silent. That conflict was between Gadget and Infinite; it was Gadget’s business to correct Knuckles’ misconception or not. (If it was just about the distance would that be better or-)

“Hide and seek.”

He blinked, gaze falling to the wolf in his lap. Gadget’s eyes were open but lifeless, unshed tears still gathered in them. But his voice had been clear and even, so Silver took the cue and spoke again. “Knuckles, have you ever played hide and seek tag?”

Knuckles blinked, thrown by the apparent non-sequitur. “Uh… no?”

“Then I’ll explain first. It’s like normal hide and seek – one person is seeker, and everyone else hides. But when the seeker finds someone, they have to catch that person. What happens if they do varies by game.” He ran his fingers through Gadget’s bangs again, gently unwinding tangles as he came upon them. “Infinite’s playing an endless game of hide and seek tag with Gadget. He’s the seeker, Gadget’s the hider.”_ And there are no set rules for what happens if Gadget gets caught._

Knuckles’ expression was grim. He’d probably picked up on that last thought without Silver even speaking a word of it. “Then I’m glad we got here in time to keep Infinite from winning.”

Silver closed his eyes, focusing on the too light weight in his lap, remembering the rare smiles or chuckles he’d heard from the wolf. Imagining what could have happened if they were too late. “Me too.”

There was a long stretch of silence after that. Eventually Silver glanced down and paused, realizing Gadget had fallen asleep. Either he was just that exhausted (a real possibility after the day he’d had), or Infinite was at a safe enough distance for him to relax. Either way, Silver wasn’t about to wake him.

“Hey Knux,” he called, keeping his voice at a stage whisper to keep from disturbing his charge. “Can we afford to stay here for a while?”

Knuckles looked at him, then at Gadget, a flash of understanding passing across his face. “Not too long,” he warned, even as he pulled out his communicator and moved toward the door. “I’m getting in touch with HQ, in case they need me back right away.”

Silver didn’t miss the use of ‘me’ instead of ‘us’. “Thanks Knuckles.”

Knuckles stopped, then shrugged it off and kept walking.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](lessinkmoregraphite.tumblr.com).


End file.
